It’s a disgusting but also painfully increasingly realistic prospect that this was the last top flight game Everton play under the lights at Goodison Park after they were dismantled 4-1 by a rampant Newcastle United.
This is the same Goodison Park that was the first purpose-built football ground in England and has staged more top flight fixtures than any other. After Farhad Moshiri's takeover was finalised with him acquiring a majority stake in Everton seven years ago, he acknowledged the club’s glorious past but pledged to bring a brighter future by proclaiming: “We don’t want to be a museum.”
However, while nobody can doubt his initial ambition, much of his on-field investment has largely been squandered – last summer he admitted “we have not always spent large amounts of money wisely” and in truth no other football club has wasted so much to become so bad. Everyone at Everton knew the importance of this game, after an initial new manager bounce under Sean Dyche, a run of just one victory in the last nine matches ensured this was the night the Blues had to return to winning ways to keep their heads above water and feel like their destiny remained in their own hands.
